Description:
The Polynesian Village was evidently at one time, Boston's main competition for Trader Vic's. It was located off the foyer in the Hotel Somerset. Opened in 1948, it closed in 1968 when it was bought by Bobby Seto, who moved it's furnishings to Cambridge's Fresh Pond area, where it was reincarnated as the Aku Aku. The large entrance-tiki, which resided in both locations was bought by a private party in 1999.

Here is a postcard view of the interior of The Polynesian Village:
And some closeups:
Mmmm. Cigarettes and Rum Drinks in Pineapples.

The back of the postcard reads:
The Polynesian Village. Somerset Hotel. The most unusual restaurant in New England specializing in exotic Canonese food and tropical drinks. The decor of the village is completely authentic constructed of materials imported from the Pacific and other far off lands.

There was also a Polynesian Village at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago (the menu below is from the Edgewater location):
This style of die cut menu was also used by The Polynesian Village in Boston, and one just sold on ebay a few days ago :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=850&item=3618429866It looks identical, with same illustrations, type style, etc. Inside the above menu, it states that both the Somerset Hotel
in Boston & Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago were owned by the Hotel Corporation of America. Were there more
Polynesian Village locations owned by this hotel chain, or was this just a borrowed idea for menu graphics?

Frank "Skipper" Kent earned his nickname as a yachtsman in the 1930s and 1940s. Skipper owned two yachts, "Magic Carpet" and "White Cloud". Known for rubbing elbows with California's rich and famous, Skipper sailed with actors Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart. Together they visiting exotic ports throughout the world, sailing to remote ports in the Caribbean, Australia, Indonesia, and the Phillippines. Skipper competed in yacht racing events throughout the 1940s, winning second place in the famed Transpacific Yacht Race in 1941 and 1947.

The White Cloud legacy in the Tiki history is pretty cool. As reported by Bifcozz, Skipper Kent gave the Sheraton hotel chain of Poly Pop restaurants to Steven Crane when he decided to move to Hawaii. So that is how we got...

Photos of the White Cloud build with Steven Crane.

I have to assume that this was part of the original Skipper Kent design that Crane implemented when he got the Sheraton gig.

And lastly, one more little piece of history I found in my research. Skipper Kent's wife helped paint the walls at both the Boston and Chicago Polynesian Village establishments.

" Lucille Kent, wife of noted restaurateur Frank Skipper Kent, was an accomplished California painter, well known on the West Coast and in Hawaii. Her studies took her from San Francisco and Berkeley as far afield as Chicago, the Instituto at San Miguel Allende, and the Bellas Artes in Taxco Mexico. Kent studied under such noted artists as Thomas Leighton, Arthur Palmer, Peter Blos, Marques Reitzel, Joseph Bennet, Senor Pinto, Don James Oats, and Senor Fidel Figueroa.

In addition to many solo exhibitions, Mrs. Kent designed and helped to paint the Polynesian Village dining room and the banquet area of the Edgewater Hotel in Chicago, and a similar Polynesian Village in the Somerset Hotel in Boston. "

It boggles the mind to consider how different the Tiki scene would have been if the Kent's had not opted out for Hawaii.